The state Board of Education appears reluctant to take action on curbing the impact of the standardized PARCC exams, despite the intentions of both Gov. Phil Murphy and his education commissioner, Lamont Repollet, to dump PARCC as soon as it is feasible.

We have just one question for board members: Why?

Last Wednesday the board tabled a vote to prevent PARCC — Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers — from being used as a solitary graduation requirement, and to reduce the amount of high-school testing. Those proposals are among the interim steps to be taken on the way to scrapping PARCC entirely, which Repollet has conceded could take a few years. New Jersey needs an alternative test to formally assess students ready to go in PARCC’s place, something the state still hasn’t developed.

Meanwhile, however, the state has to lower the PARCC stakes. A widely reviled, widely discredited exam that the state is in the process of dumping can’t be used to penalize students or teachers. It also isn’t worth spending a great deal of time preparing for and taking the tests. That’s why Murphy wants to reduce the amount of testing, and has all but eliminated the scores from teacher evaluations (cutting the weight given the exams from 30 percent to 5 percent). Graduation requirements, meanwhile, could continue to be met through other tests, such as college entrance exams.

We’re supportive of all of those measures. The Murphy administration also wants to rename PARCC, a silly little bit of rebranding we hope wouldn’t mask ongoing concerns with the test. That change is worthless.

But PARCC does still have its supporters, or at least those who aren’t eager to move on from the controversial exams, which will be administered this school year for the fifth time. Among those advocates is Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, who said she doesn’t object to change, but doesn’t want that change to lower educational standards.

That, however, continues to be one of the most exasperating elements of PARCC support — that because the exam is more difficult and generating lower passing rates than its predecessor, it’s automatically raising the academic bar. But there’s a difference between just asking more of students and doing it fairly and responsibly. Among the most persistent criticisms of the PARCC tests is that they are often not grade-appropriate.

The PARCC logo.(Photo: Goldberg, Irwin, )

We’ve noted before that if passing high-school-level English and math exams became a rigid graduation requirement — with the only alternative being a portfolio of work — more than half the students in a statewide school system consistently rated among the best in the nation would not receive diplomas. That may be the single biggest indicator of PARCC’s failings.

We don’t object to the state Board of Education tweaking some of the interim plans on the way to PARCC’s demise. But any steps meant to extend PARCC’s impact on New Jersey education or preserve higher stakes while it’s still with us would be a big mistake.